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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

You know when you have something in your brain, and you can't find it in any store, so you just have to make it yourself? That was the case with this shirt! I have seen fun floral lettered shirts, but never one with the words I want or a fit I like.

So, I went to the Apple Store on Saturday, and asked them to teach me how to create the graphic. I love the Genius Bar. I created This UTAH GIRL themed shirt, and I am dying over the results!

All you need is the printable I designed. I actually designed 10 different patterns! It can be found at the bottom of the post. Heat transfer paper (Amazon or craft store), a shirt, and an iron.

Always follow the instructions on your iron transfer paper. Print the image on the iron transfer paper, and cut around the image, rounding the corners. Place the image face down on your shirt in the position you want, and iron with a good about of pressure. Make sure the steam is turned off. Wait two minutes, and pull the backing off. You are finished, and have a beautiful Utah Girl shirt! Be sure and wash and care for it as is instructed, so it lasts as long as possible.

Isn't it CUTE!?!

Here's the same stencil on a dark shirt.

This is another take on the same shirt, but in a darker color. I used iron transfer paper for light fabrics, instead of dark fabrics, and the image didn't show very well, but I still like it.

Print the image out on your heat transfer paper.

Cut the letters out.

Space them the way you want on your shirt.

Be sure and turn them face down before ironing. Set your iron on the highest, no steam setting. Turn the steam off. Press firmly and iron the letters in place.

Wait two minutes before pulling the backing off, and there you have it, a cute, one of a kind UTAH GIRL shirt!

Monday, July 13, 2015

I love the, "hello,"shirts that I see in boutiques, and on cute friends. I wanted to make something similar, but have it be Utah themed, because I also love state themed shirts.

You will need:

T-SHIRT

I got mine at H&M, because they are 2/$5, and a great fit!

FREEZER PAPER

PAPER AND PRINTER

EXACTO KNIFE

IRON AND IRONING BOARD

MARTHA STEWART FABRIC MEDIUM, CRAFT PAINT, PAINT BRUSH

Utah graphic:

Double, two finger, or right click the image below. Save image to, "downloads." Print as 8x10, or whatever size you choose.

Print out the graphic, and lay a piece of freezer paper over it, shiny side down. Trace the outside of the word, and discard the printed graphic.

Cut the image out with an exacto knife. This part takes the longest. It took me about 10 minutes.

Place the stencil shiny side down on your shirt, and iron firmly, making sure the steam is turned off. The shiny side will stick to the shirt.

Mix your fabric medium with your craft paint according to package directions, and lightly daube paint onto the exposed fabric. I got almost all the paint off my brush before daubing. Also, I placed a piece of brown paper bag underneath my shirt on the inside. None of the paint leaked through, but it was a good precautionary step.

Wait until it dries. I waited 20 minutes, Pull the stencil off, and there you have it, a perfectly darling Utah themed shirt in the color of you choosing. These would be great for family reunions and every day.

By the way... if you take care, and gently pull the stencil up, you can use it over and over.

Isn't that cute? If I made another one, I might make the, "Utah," smaller, or I might not.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

I am loving the fun style of these Alex and Ani bracelets, and see them everywhere. I was making them for my Activity Days group (group of 9 year olds from my church) the other day. My daughter had a few friends over, and they all flipped out when they saw what I had made, and how easy it is! They were begging to have a craft day and make their own. Even my girlfriends that have seen them love them. I thought it would be fun to make them Utah themed, as we have Pioneer Days (our big State of Utah yearly celebration) coming up in a few weeks.

I like that you can wear a bunch of them, or just one, and the charms are free to float around the bracelet as they like. I also like the I can get 8 bracelets out of $4 worth of wire, plus the cost of the charms and beads I use. Alex & Ani run $25-$50+.

You will need:

Jewelry pliers - found at any craft store

Charms - craft store, Ebay, Etsy

I am doing this Utah Themed, like I said, but you can do any theme you like. I like to find my charms on Etsy and Ebay. I use Ebay if I can wait for shipping, and Etsy, if I need them faster. Also, Etsy sometimes carries things that Ebay doesn't, like the Utah charms. For generic charms, I prefer Hobby Lobby.

Jewelry Wire - craft store

You will need 12 to 14 gauge craft wire. It needs to be sturdy. I like the thinner wire, because I could thread a few of my beads on it, and I liked the color better than the color of the thicker wire. The thinner wire is more fragile, and you will have to watch it when you wear it. I have been wearing mine for a few weeks now, and not had anything major happen.

Jump Rings - craft store (Thread your charms onto these.)

You will need to cut off 11 to 12 inches of wire, allowing the wire to bend naturally - don't straighten it out. Use your pliers to make a circle, and bend it sideways and up or down, so that you can push the other end of the wire in after you thread the beads and charms on.

Go nuts, and thread as many beads and charms on as you like! This picture is three bracelets sitting on top of each other, and I like it, but I also like the simplicity of just wearing one. And yes, I like to mix metals.

After you are happy with your design, thread the end of the wire through the hole you made in the beginning, and do the same thing to the end to close it off. Make a circle, and bend it sideways then up or down (depending on the way the first circle is sitting). Open it slightly to allow the wire to fit in, and then pinch the circle closed with your pliers. You can expand your bracelet to put it on, and shrink it after it is over your hand.

I wore this one to church today, and it made me happy very time I looked down!

I will be sharing more Utah themed DIY projects this week, in honor of Pioneer Day. The ideas I share can easily be made into your own theme taste and style. You will want to check back! This Friday, I will be on Studio 5 showing my round up of Pioneer Day Ideas!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

I have this long hallway in my house where I display my kids schoolwork and artwork. It was always a mess, and kind of made me itch every time I walked past it. This is the before picture.

I wanted to do something fresh and clean of that spot, and acrylic boards were just the key! They are sleek and clean, and create great visual interest, while making a small impact on the space.

First, decide the size you want your boards to be. For mine, I wanted each board to be 2 feet by 3 feet. I asked Regional Suppply to cut the boards for me, which they did, perfectly! Regional Supply is awesome, and the prices are almost half of what you would pay at the home improvement store. They donated the acrylic for these display boards. Thank you, Regional Supply!

The next thing you need to do, is drill holes in your acrylic on each corner. We drilled through all three pieces at the same time. If you use a forester bit to do this, you will end up with clean and beautiful holes. Just remember to go slow! Also, drilling will create, "saw dust," because it melts the plastic. Remember to leave it alone until it cools, and then it will break off easily.

Next thing to do is mount the acrylic on the wall, using these standoff mounts. I got these from Regional supply as well, and they have all sorts of colors and sizes.

The plexiglass will be sandwiched between the two pieces of the standoff mount.

Put the anchors in the wall, and then screw the (larger) bottom piece in with the screw that comes with the anchor. After the bottom piece is screwed in, place the plexiglass over the bottom piece, and screw the top piece of the standoff through the hole into the bottom piece. It is easier than it sounds.

Leave the paper covering on the acrylic until you are ready to decorate, because acrylic can scratch, and you want to protect it as long as possible.

After you remove the paper, it's time to decorate!

I used pictures of my kids on the front, scrapbook paper on the back, and these awesome inspirational stickers that come in a pack of eight sheets for $7.99 from Hobby Lobby.

We taped the schoolwork they want to display to the top of the board, over the scrapbook paper.

I might even write on them with a dry erase marker at some point.

They turned out great, and I am loving this space so much more than I did before. My kids like it as well. Every child loves to have a board on display that is all about them!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Solvent welding is is the act of using a compound to join two pieces of acrylic together. It is really the coolest thing! You can create all sorts of things with it, including these beautiful bookends!

I added my geode bookends for embellishment, but you can add anything you like, including coral or even spray painted toys.

The first thing you need to do is pick up a piece of plexiglass. I talked about where I like to buy it in this post, where I talk about how to bend acrylic. If you don't have a saw, the same company www.regionalsupply.com can even cut it for you! It will just costs little more than using a piece from the scrap bin. I use a thicker piece for these. I think it was 1/2 inch thick. I probably used $1-$2 worth of plexiglass, because the thicker stuff is more expensive.

My husband already had one and I didn't know, so I bought one. You never know what you might have lying around. Map gas burns at a higher temperature than regular propane, and is the key to beautifully polished edges on your acrylics.

We got ours from the scrap bin, and my dad cut it down for me on his table saw. You can use any saw. Just make sure to go slow, and use a fine blade.

Once you cut your pieces of acrylic, don't forget to sand the edges! Remember from my last post, that you want to sand all your edges with moistened sand paper?

The next thing you need to do is cut the paper covering off where you plan to join the pieces. We used a razor blade.

Set the pieces where you want them to be, and add the Acrylic Adhesive. My dad is a pro at this, and he can show you!

It takes a couple minutes for the bond to be completely strong. Here are our results.

It's kind of like instant gratification, and the acrylic bonds are awesome!

The next thing you need to do is flame polish the edges with your bernzomatic torch. This step will make all the difference! I don't have a clip or picture of doing this, because I did it in the rain, but a good video on how to flame polish can be found HERE. I tried to do it with nail polish, and it did alright, but didn't work nearly as well as flame polishing. Plus, I felt way cooler holding a torch than a bottle of nail polish.

I LOVE my bookends, and will be sharing more acrylic projects in the next few days!

I love acrylic shelves. I bought one the other day at the Container store, then I thought I might be able to make one myself. I was right. I was actually able to make it with the help of my dad. My dad is a genius when it comes to working with acrylics, and he did very well with an aquarium pump he created out of acrylic and sold. He taught me everything he knows. Lucky me!

I took a piece of 1/8 inch plexiglass that I got from www.regionalsupply.com, out of the scrap bin. They charge $1.20 per pound, and it is great deal! You will pay WAY more at the home improvement store. I don't think I even paid a dollar for this shelf.

These are the scrap bins:

They sit kind of by the entrance of the store.

You get the piece of plexiglass, and cut it into the size you want. You can use whatever saw you like, just make sure to use as fine a blade as you can. This will make for smoother cut, and decrease the likelihood of chips.

You then sand the edges. A tip for sanding plexiglass, is that you need to keep the sand paper moist. I did this project with my cute dad, and we used his belt sander. He just misted the sander as we went to keep it moist. This helps stop the plexiglass from chipping. Next, drill holes where you want them to be. When drilling, you need to use a plastic bit, or a forester bit. You get the plastic bit from Regional Supply, and the Forstner bit from Harbor Freight. Go slow as you drill. A white film will develop. Make sure to wait until it cools to break it off.

Next, I am going to share a clip of how we bent the acrylic. We heated it with a heat gun for about 60-90 seconds before we bent it. Sorry this clip is sideways. I don't know how to turn it.

You can see how easy that was. All I had left to do, was pull the plastic coating off, and hang it on the wall!

It is perfect for displaying the darling robot my grandma made for my son before she passed away.

I have a couple more acrylic tutorials coming your way, so be sure and check back!

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ME

I am a wife to Hunky Mr. B. and mom to 3 great kids. I like to try new things, and don't like to sit still for long. This blog is all about my adventures in decorating, crafting, cooking/baking, mothering, and whatever comes to mind!